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The NYPD police officer who was fatally shot in the face Monday while responding to a robbery in Brooklyn was remembered Tuesday as a loving father and the ultimate "cop's cop." Chris Glorioso reports, (Published Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011)

Updated at 9:53 AM EST on Wednesday, Dec 14, 2011

The NYPD police officer who was fatally shot Monday while responding to a robbery in Brooklyn was remembered Tuesday as a loving father and the ultimate "cop's cop."

Dozens of Cypress Hills neighbors gathered for a candlelight vigil Tuesday night, commemorating the police officer who died protecting them. With a 22-balloon salute representing each of Officer Peter Figoski's 22 years on the force, the neighbors paid tribute to the decorated cop who patrolled their blocks for years.

"When a person dies in our community, the whole community bleeds," said community activist Tony Herbert.

Cathy Gabriel, a neighbor who attended the vigil, said, "I feel for that family. That family, what they're feeling right now, them girls. To lose their dad."

Cop Was "Loving Dad, Great Officer"

People who barely knew Officer Figoski spoke highly of him, calling him a great officer, loving father and friendly neighbor. John Noel has more on the NYPD police officer killed on the job Monday. (Published Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011)

Figoski, 47, was killed early Monday during a botched armed robbery. Lamont Pride, of Coney Island, allegedly shot Figoski once in the face with a semiautomatic handgun before the officer could draw his own weapon.

Figoski was taken to a hospital, where he died about five hours later.

Mixed with the sadness and sense of loss, some community leaders at the vigil Tuesday couldn't help but feel the inter-state justice system let them down.

"These judges gotta stop letting these guys loose... instead of sending them back where they're supposed to go, to jail," said John Rodriguez, 75th Precinct Community Council President.

"One shooting is one too many," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a news conference Tuesday morning. "It robs his daughters of a caring father, and this department and East New York of a great police officer."

"The mood in the 75th precinct, as you can imagine, is very somber," said Lt. John Tennant, who worked with Figoski in the precinct. "When I come to work, it's also with a heavy heart from losing one of the family members downstairs."

Figoski's career included more than 200 arrests and 12 medals — one of them an exceptional merit award for coming under fire in a brush with a man who would later be convicted as the city's Zodiac copycat killer of the early 1990s.

The officer had enough time on the force to retire with a full pension, but "people who love the job stay on," said Tennant.